CAN I RUN SC WITHOUT SPIKES?

You CAN but it sucks. Why not get yourself something like these:

Everything of this page is $19.99

http://www.eastbay.com/catalog/modelsummary.cfm?TID=5555-57220418160157181025201-0&module=shoes&action=sportsSearch&supercat=shoes&mvp=sport&id=54419&prod_tp=all&sport=all&brand=all&gender_age=all&txtLowPrice=&txtHighPrice=

of course these would rock:

http://www.eastbay.com/catalog/productdetail.cfm?TID=5555-57220418160157181025201-0&module=shoes&action=sportsSearch&supercat=shoes&model_nbr=38613&sku=04892701&id=54419&mvp=sport&sport=all

In 9th grade I ran a few steeples in a pair of XC spikes before buying a pair of Adidas Adistar 2 Steeple spikes in 10th grade. The difference in the amount of water I was lugging around was phenomenal. I couldn't imagine what it would be like in trainers.

On another note you don't need shoes at all to run the steeple. Just think of Christopher Kosgei at '95 Worlds.

http://www.sporting-heroes.net/athletics-heroes/displayhero.asp?HeroID=388

Yeah, for 20 bucks and shipping it'll make the experience a whole lot more fun. Plus, next years you'll not have the excuse:

"boy that sucked in trainers, I'm not going to do that again"

but rather:

"man that was painful, but I bought this one pair of shoes only for the one day, I'd better run it again and get more use out of them"

Oh, no!

I meant "XC", but I accidently typed SC!

Does this change the advice?

A lot of people run XC races (especially with pavement) in flats. I don't know why you would want to run any sort of race in trainers unless you are...

I am not him!

There will be no pavement, just grass, a lot of muck, and me in my lightweight trainers if the letsrun crowd approves.

You will embarrass yourself. Period.